No cures for lysosomal storage diseases are known, and treatment is mostly symptomatic, although bone marrow transplantation and enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) have been tried with some success. ERT can minimize symptoms and prevent permanent damage to the body. In addition, umbilical cord blood transplantation is being performed at specialized centers for a number of these diseases. In addition, substrate reduction therapy, a method used to decrease the production of storage material, is currently being evaluated for some of these diseases. Furthermore, chaperone therapy, a technique used to stabilize the defective enzymes produced by patients, is being examined for certain of these disorders. The experimental technique of gene therapy may offer cures in the future.

Ambroxol has recently been shown to increase activity of the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase, so it may be a useful therapeutic agent for both Gaucher disease and Parkinson's disease. Ambroxol triggers the secretion of lysosomes from cells by inducing a pH-dependent calcium release from acidic calcium stores. Hence, relieving the cell from accumulating degradation products is a proposed mechanism by which this drug may help.

There are no specific treatments for lipid storage disorders; however, there are some highly effective enzyme replacement therapies for people with type 1 Gaucher disease and some patients with type 3 Gaucher disease. There are other treatments such as the prescription of certain drugs like phenytoin and carbamazepine to treat pain for patients with Fabry disease. Furthermore, gene thereapies and bone marrow transplantation may prove to be effective for certain lipid storage disorders. Diet restrictions do not help prevent the buildup of lipids in the tissues.

On April 27, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Brineura (cerliponase alfa) as the first specific treatment for NCL. Brineura is enzyme replacement therapy manufactured through recombinant DNA technology. The active ingredient in Brineura, cerliponase alpha, is intended to slow loss of walking ability in symptomatic pediatric patients 3 years of age and older with late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2), also known as tripeptidyl peptidase-1 (TPP1) deficiency. Brineura is administered into the cerebrospinal fluid by infusion via a surgically implanted reservoir and catheter in the head (intraventricular access device).

As of 2010 there was no treatment that addressed the cause of Tay–Sachs disease or could slow its progression; people receive supportive care to ease the symptoms and extend life by reducing the chance of contracting infections. Infants are given feeding tubes when they can no longer swallow. In late-onset Tay–Sachs, medication (e.g., lithium for depression) can sometimes control psychiatric symptoms and seizures, although some medications (e.g., tricyclic antidepressants, phenothiazines, haloperidol, and risperidone) are associated with significant adverse effects.

Currently Sandhoff disease does not have any standard treatment and does not have a cure. However, a person suffering from the disease needs proper nutrition, hydration, and maintenance of clear airways. To reduce some symptoms that may occur with Sandhoff disease, the patient may take anticonvulsants to manage seizures or medications to treat respiratory infections, and consume a precise diet consisting of puree foods due to difficulties swallowing. Infants with the disease usually die by the age of 3 due to respiratory infections. The patient must be under constant surveillance because they can suffer from aspiration or lack the ability to change from the passageway to their lungs versus their stomach and their spit travels to the lungs causing bronchopneumonia. The patient also lacks the ability to cough and therefore must undergo a treatment to shake up their body to remove the mucus from the lining of their lungs. Medication is also given to patients to lessen their symptoms including seizures.

Currently the government is testing several treatments including N-butyl-deoxynojirimycin in mice, as well as stem cell treatment in humans and other medical treatments recruiting test patients.

A painkiller available in several European countries, Flupirtine, has been suggested to possibly slow down the progress of NCL, particularly in the juvenile and late infantile forms. No trial has been officially supported in this venue, however. Currently the drug is available to NCL families either from Germany, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.

There is currently no therapy or cure for MLD in late infantile patients displaying symptoms, or for juvenile and adult onset with advanced symptoms. These patients typically receive clinical treatment focused on pain and symptom management.

Pre-symptomatic late infantile MLD patients, as well as those with juvenile or adult MLD that are either presymptomatic or displaying mild symptoms, can consider bone marrow transplantation (including stem cell transplantation), which may slow down progression of the disease in the central nervous system. However, results in the peripheral nervous system have been less dramatic, and the long-term results of these therapies have been mixed. Recent success has involved stem cells being taken from the bone marrow of children with the disorder and infecting the cells with a retro-virus, replacing the stem cells' mutated gene with the repaired gene before re-injecting it back into the patient where they multiplied. The children by the age of five were all in good condition and going to kindergarten when normally by this age, children with the disease can not even speak.

Several therapy options are currently being investigated using clinical trials primarily in late infantile patients. These therapies include gene therapy, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), substrate reduction therapy (SRT), and potentially enzyme enhancement therapy (EET).

A team of international researchers and foundations gathered in 2008 to form an international MLD Registry to create and manage a shared repository of knowledge, including the natural history of MLD. This consortium consisted of scientific, academic and industry resources. This registry never became operational.

As of 2010, even with the best care, children with infantile Tay–Sachs disease usually die by the age of 4.

Treatment is depended on the type of glycogen storage disease. E.g. GSD I is typically treated with frequent small meals of carbohydrates and cornstarch to prevent low blood sugar, while other treatments may include allopurinol and human granulocyte colony stimulating factor.

"(current as of January 2017)"

- Shire, with headquarters in Switzerland and a major research center in Lexington, MA, is developing and studying their intrathecal SHP 611 (formerly HGT-1110) ERT [Enzyme Replacement Therapy].

- Clinical Trial

- Recruiting for the clinical trial started January, 2012 and was fully recruited by mid-2014.

- a Fourth cohort was recruited during the first half of 2016. This cohort is fully populated and no new patients are being recruited. Data from this cohort will be gathered by late 2016 with another 3–6 months of outcome analysis expected before a decision is made on what the next drug development and Trial plans will be.

- Phase I/II data is scheduled to be presented in February 2017 at the LDN/WORLD conference.

- Early (post-40 week) results showed the drug was well tolerated at all doses and the 100 mg dose showed the slowest decline in GMFM-88 scores over the trial period. Data continues to be studied.

- Trial Centers

- Trial centers were opened in Europe, South America and Australia

- Patients were successfully recruited in all trial centers

- Inclusion Criteria

- 1st symptoms before age 30 months, currently 7 years old or younger

- Ambulatory – be able to walk 10 steps while holding only one hand.

- Additional clinical trial information & inclusion criteria, can be found on the MLD Foundation website here and at the Clinical Trials.gov site.

- The clinical trial is a 38-week multi-site study of 18 children in three different dosing cohorts. The 'no treatment' placebo arm was removed from the trial in June 2012.

- Patients must go to one of five trial sites for their every other week enzyme infusions: Copenhagen Denmark, Paris France, Tübingen Germany, Sydney Australia, or Porto Alegre Brazil. Derqui, Argentina is awaiting approval.

- A new intrathecal port from a new vendor was approved for use starting December 2013. See the MLD Foundation website for more details.

- SHP611 has "orphan product" status in both Europe and the United States.

- "History:" Shire suspended development of the Metazyme intravenous ERT product in 2010. It was in clinical trial when it was acquired from Zymenex in 2008 (subsequently renamed HGT-1111 by Shire) after it was shown to not have sufficient efficacy by a Phase I/II clinical trial in Europe. The initial study completed September 2008 and the extension study completed October 2010 with the cessation of product supply to trial participants.

Typically no treatment is needed. If jaundice is significant phenobarbital may be used.

The goal for treatment of GSD type 0 is to avoid hypoglycemia. This is accomplished by avoiding fasting by eating every 3-4 hours during the day. At night, uncooked corn starch can be given because it is a complex glucose polymer. This will be acted on slowly by pancreatic amylase and glucose will be absorbed over a 6 hour period.

There is no treatment for NBS, however in those with agammaglobulinemia, intravenous immunoglobulin may be started. Prophylactic antibiotics are considered to prevent urinary tract infections as those with NBS often have congenital kidney malformations. In the treat of malignancies radiation, alkylating antineoplastic agents, and epipodophyllotoxins are not used, and methotrexate can be used with caution and, the dose should be limited. Bone marrow transplants and hematopoietic stem cells transplants are also considered in the treatment of NBS. The supplementation of Vitamin E is also recommended. A ventriculoperitoneal shunt can be placed in patients with hydrocephaly, and surgical intervention of congenital deformities is also attempted.

The majority of patients is initially screened by enzyme assay, which is the most efficient method to arrive at a definitive diagnosis. In some families where the disease-causing mutations are known and in certain genetic isolates, mutation analysis may be performed. In addition, after a diagnosis is made by biochemical means, mutation analysis may be performed for certain disorders.

A lipid storage disorder (or lipidosis) can be any one of a group of inherited metabolic disorders in which harmful amounts of fats or lipids accumulate in some of the body’s cells and tissues. People with these disorders either do not produce enough of one of the enzymes needed to metabolize and break down lipids or they produce enzymes that do not work properly. Over time, this excessive storage of fats can cause permanent cellular and tissue damage, particularly in the brain, peripheral nervous system, liver, spleen and bone marrow.

Inside cells under normal conditions, lysosomes convert, or metabolize, lipids and proteins into smaller components to provide energy for the body.

The GM2 gangliosidoses are a group of three related genetic disorders that result from a deficiency of the enzyme beta-hexosaminidase. This enzyme catalyzes the biodegradation of fatty acid derivatives known as gangliosides. The diseases are better known by their individual names.

Beta-hexosaminidase is a vital hydrolytic enzyme, found in the lysosomes, that breaks down lipids. When beta-hexosaminidase is no longer functioning properly, the lipids accumulate in the nervous tissue of the brain and cause problems. Gangliosides are made and biodegraded rapidly in early life as the brain develops. Except in some rare, late-onset forms, the GM2 gangliosidoses are fatal.

All three disorders are rare in the general population. Tay-Sachs disease has become famous as a public health model because an enzyme assay test for TSD was discovered and developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, providing one of the first "mass screening" tools in medical genetics. It became a research and public health model for understanding and preventing all autosomal genetic disorders.

Tay-Sachs disease, AB variant, and Sandhoff disease might easily have been defined together as a single disease, because the three disorders are associated with failure of the same metabolic pathway and have the same outcome. Classification and naming for many genetic disorders reflects history, because most diseases were first observed and classified based on biochemistry and pathophysiology before genetic diagnosis was available. However, the three GM2 gangliosidoses were discovered and named separately. Each represents a distinct molecular point of failure in a subunit that is required for activation of the enzyme.

Sandhoff disease, also known as Sandhoff–Jatzkewitz disease, variant 0 of GM2-Gangliosidosis or Hexosaminidase A and B deficiency, is a lysosomal genetic, lipid storage disorder caused by the inherited deficiency to create functional beta-hexosaminidases A and B. These catabolic enzymes are needed to degrade the neuronal membrane components, ganglioside GM2, its derivative GA2, the glycolipid globoside in visceral tissues, and some oligosaccharides. Accumulation of these metabolites leads to a progressive destruction of the central nervous system and eventually to death. The rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder is clinically almost indistinguishable from Tay–Sachs disease, another genetic disorder that disrupts beta-hexosaminidases A and S. There are three subsets of Sandhoff disease based on when first symptoms appear: classic infantile, juvenile and adult late onset.

Sandhoff disease is a rare, autosomal recessive metabolic disorder that causes progressive destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The disease results from mutations on chromosome 5 in the HEXB gene, critical for the lysosomal enzymes beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase A and B. Sandhoff Disease is clinically indistinguishable from Tay-Sachs Disease. The most common form, infantile Sandhoff disease, is usually fatal by early childhood.

Gangliosidosis contains different types of lipid storage disorders caused by the accumulation of lipids known as gangliosides. There are two distinct genetic causes of the disease. Both are autosomal recessive and affect males and females equally.

GM2-gangliosidosis, AB variant is a rare, autosomal recessive metabolic disorder that causes progressive destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It has a similar pathology to Sandhoff disease and Tay-Sachs disease. The three diseases are classified together as the GM2 gangliosidoses, because each disease represents a distinct molecular point of failure in the activation of the same enzyme, beta-hexosaminidase. AB variant is caused by a failure in the gene that makes an enzyme cofactor for beta-hexosaminidase, called the GM2 activator.

A Glycogen storage disease (GSD, also glycogenosis and dextrinosis) is a metabolic disorder caused by enzyme deficiencies affecting either glycogen synthesis, glycogen breakdown or glycolysis (glucose breakdown), typically within muscles and/or liver cells.

GSD has two classes of cause: genetic and acquired. Genetic GSD is caused by any inborn error of metabolism (genetically defective enzymes) involved in these processes. In livestock, acquired GSD is caused by intoxication with the alkaloid castanospermine.

Mucolipidosis (ML) is a group of inherited metabolic disorders that affect the body's ability to carry out the normal turnover of various materials within cells.

When originally named, the mucolipidoses derived their name from the similarity in presentation to both mucopolysaccharidoses and sphingolipidoses. A biochemical understanding of these conditions has changed how they are classified. Although four conditions (I, II, III, and IV) have been labeled as mucolipidoses, type I (sialidosis) is now classified as a glycoproteinosis, and type IV (Mucolipidosis type IV) is now classified as a gangliosidosis.

The diagnosis of ML is based on clinical symptoms, a complete medical history, and certain laboratory tests.

Signs and symptoms of GM2-gangliosidosis, AB variant are identical with those of infantile Tay-Sachs disease, except that enzyme assay testing shows normal levels of hexosaminidase A. Infantile Sandhoff disease has similar symptoms and prognosis, except that there is deficiency of both hexosaminidase A and hexosaminidase B. Infants with this disorder typically appear normal until the age of 3 to 6 months, when development slows and muscles used for movement weaken. Affected infants lose motor skills such as turning over, sitting, and crawling. As the disease progresses, infants develop seizures, vision and hearing loss, mental retardation, and paralysis.

An ophthalmological abnormality called a cherry-red spot, which can be identified with an eye examination, is characteristic of this disorder. This cherry-red spot is the same finding that Warren Tay first reported in 1881, when he identified a case of Tay-Sachs disease, and it has the same etiology.

The prognosis for AB variant is the same as for infantile Tay-Sachs disease. Children with AB variant die in infancy or early childhood.

There is no treatment at this time to promote bone growth in chondrodystrophy patients. Certain types of growth hormone seem to increase the rate of growth during the first year of life/treatment, but have no substantial effect in adult patients. Only a few surgical centers in the world perform, experimentally, leg and arm lengthening procedures. Most common therapies are found in seeking help from: family physicians, pediatrics, internists, endocrinologists, geneticists, orthopedists and neurologists.